Janie Lee Castles Boyd (Crowder), 97 passed away peacefully at Sunrise in Madison senior living community on Friday, Jan. 29. She lived in Darien in the early 1970s.
She was born on Oct. 22, 1918 to Joseph Raymond and Lucy Rebecca Jones Crowder in Blackstone, Va. Janie graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 1939 and in January, 1942, she married John (Jack) Thomas Castles.
The wedding, originally planned for June, was brought forward when Jack was called up to serve in the Pacific. Jack’s job with General Electric took them all over the Northeast and beyond — they lived in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Michigan.
Following Jack’s death in 1969, Janie moved to Darien. In December, 1975, she married Austen Winslow Boyd, and moved to Morristown, N.J.
Janie couldn’t help but be active in every community in which she lived. With the church she taught Sunday school and nursery school, served on many committees, and brought support and comfort to many as a deacon and as an elder.
In Morristown, she valued her membership of the P.E.O (Philanthropic Educational Organization), and with Austen enjoyed being a member of the Watnong Garden Club.
Janie was known for her Southern hospitality and her pecan pie. She would say that her favorite hobby was people — a testament to the many friends she leaves behind.
Janie is preceded by her sisters Frances Crowder and Helen Golden, and by both Jack and Austen, two loving husbands whom she missed deeply. She is survived by her daughter Lucy Castles, step-children Nadine Sutcliffe, Malcolm Boyd, and Geoffrey Boyd, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 20 at The Chapel of The Presbyterian Church in Morristown, N.J. A committal service will take place later in Blackstone, Va.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, 65 South S., Morristown, NJ 07960.
— arrangements by Rowe-Lanterman Home for Funerals in Morristown, N.J.